


The strangelings

by Iresem



Series: Mass Effect: Strangers from beyond [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, F/M, Long exploration of Shepard's past, Massive change to original story, Multi, Mystery Character(s), Mystery Stories, Other, Possible long exploration of some of the new characters' past, Possible new characters being too high tech, Thriller, new characters - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-03
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-06 06:35:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8738506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iresem/pseuds/Iresem
Summary: Shepard and her team are sent to investigate an abnormality in a planet but they discover something that none of them could have possibly imagine.





	1. Chapter 1

Hackett’s voice over intercom had the same calm tone to it but there was a hint of agitation somewhere beneath the calm.  
“Commander, we have picked up strange readings from Sparta system with in Artmis Tau cluster. It is not clear what is causing it but it needs to be checked out immediately.”

“Sir, we had been through that cluster before for Dr.T’sonis’s extraction but we did not picked up anything strange.” Saina pointed out. “And we have just left the cluster two days ago….”

“I am well aware of that commander.” Hackett interrupted Saina. “And that’s exactly why I’m concerned. The strange signals started to manifest a day after Normandy left the cluster and what we are getting from analyzing them….”

“What is it Admiral?” Saina asked, sensing Hackett’s unease. 

“It’s seems as though the system is falling apart and according to our calculations, it is going to bring the cluster down too.” Hackett said grimly.

“What?!” Saina exclaimed, gripping the edge of the railings around the Galaxy map platform. “Something like this just cannot happen in one day!”

“That’s exactly why I am asking you to check the system as soon as possible. Find the source of these signals and report as soon as you can!”

“I’m on it Sir!” With that the conversation was over.

Saina stood there for a moment to gather her thoughts. Catching Saren was proving to be difficult as time passed on and now this system emergency had appeared out of nowhere. Saina sighed heavily and brushed her fingers through the tangled blood red cluster of her hair. She was well aware that Pressly was watching her intently, waiting for instructions. They were preparing for heading towards Feros, it was their top priority, and then again, admiral never had urged her to change course like this.  
As Saina pondered on about the situation at hand, as if on cue Joker’s voice cracked over the cam. “Commander, admiral Hackett just sent me the readings… you should see this.”

“Upload them over here, Joker.” Saina commanded.

The galaxy map zoomed in on Artmis cluster then on Sparta system. Every one gasped. The readings indicated that the movement of one of the planets was changing its course of orbiting and was headed toward the star of the system. Then the mathematical predictions kicked in and according to the calculations, there was a high chance of a super nova happening with in the star and that meant the complete destruction of that system. But that was not all, the calculations were pointing at a possible eradication of the whole cluster.

“How’s that even possible?” Pressly said quietly, watching the hologram with wide eyes. 

“Could this be Saren’s doing?” It was Ashly who had joined them a while ago. 

“Isn’t that a bit too far?” Kaiden argued.

“Hey, it’s Saren we are talking about, L2!” Ashly returned. 

“But there are many colonies from different species spread across that cluster! It will be a mass murder!” Liara raved, her blue skin seemed to have lost color, mirroring her fear. 

“Well Saren has shown many times that he doesn’t give a damn about people’s lives! Joker! Take us in!” Saina growled to the intercom and the familiar “Aye, Aye” was heard in response. 

Saina looked at everyone around CIC room and said, “This will get rough, we are heading for the planet with the abnormal behavior. Get ready!” The crew shouted  
“Aye, Aye commander!” and moved about quickly to get things done. Saina got off the platform and headed for the cockpit. 

“How far are we Joker?” She asked.  
“We’ll arrive in an hour, though we still don’t know which one of the planets is going crazy commander.” Joker mused darkly. 

“Well Joker a planet which is losing its orbiting pattern is really hard to miss!” Saina said humorlessly and patted Joker on the shoulder. “Call me when we’re close.”

“You got it commander!” Joker nodded at her. She turned and headed for her cabin to get ready for whatever was awaiting them.

*******

"Oh hell NO!!"

"What's wrong Joker?" Saina asked while jogging up to his station. 

"The damn planet which is acting crazy is none other than Eldor, the very one with crappy meteor showers!" Saina looked at Joker with an eyebrow raised. He looked up at her then back at his screen mumbling an apology. 

"We've been there once Joker, we need to follow the same method again."

"If only the meteor showers rate was the same!" Joker growled. 

"It has changed? To what degree?" Saina asked feeling alarmed.

"It’s as though the meteors are bombarding the planet. At this rate it's either going to blow up or get off track and hit its star and from the analysis, the angle at which the meteors are hitting its surface...."

"The planet will be forced off its orbit and pushed towards its star." Saina concluded as she read the data displayed on the screen.

"Is there something causing this abnormal behavior of the meteors? Is the planet itself the source?" Saina asked while scrolling through the data. 

"I'm not sure commander..." Joker had begun to say when Tali's voice cracked over the intercom. "Shepard! It seems that the gravity field of the planet has been changed somehow. It has grown to three times more that the amount it originally had. But I can't pinpoint how it's possible that the meteors are crashing with a specific angle!"

"But the planet itself is the source, right?" Saina asked, looking for a confirmation.

"Yes, that's right Shepard."

"Alright, we are going in!" Joker was about to protest, but Saina went on," we'll take Mako and Joker you drop us wherever it is safe for Normandy. Even if you have to drop us from a high latitude." "Commander! That's crazy! The thrusters won't cover way too high latitudes! The shuttle.."

"The shuttle can't fly in that condition! We can't stay air born and you know that Joker!"She squeezed Joker's shoulder, "Don't worry, Garrus has been doing many calibrations on Mako, we will be fine."

"Great! Now you're trusting a Turian to do fixes! Hell, I'm so relaxed right now!" Joker mattered under his breath. 

Saina shook her head and jogged towards the armory, on her way she saw Garrus and Kaiden working on Mako's cannon. She called out to them,"Kaiden! Garrus! Gear up!"  
The two saluted at the same time saying, "Got it commander!"

Five minutes later they were seated in the Mako with in the cargo hold waiting for the cargo bay to open. Saina was at the main controls while Garrus and Kaiden were working on Mako's sub controls.

Saina turned to them and said, "You know the plan..."

"Yeah, which is counting on the thrusters aside from YOUR driving.." Garrus mused.

Saina raised an eyebrow at him which meant "you're going to take that back later" and she saw Kaiden who was shaking his head, chuckling. He caught Saina watching him, he bent over the thruster’s emergency auto fix controls, which seemed very interesting to him at that moment. The Turian had gotten himself and Kaiden in trouble alright.

Saina went on, "MY driving is just fine Vakarian. I hope we can say the same thing about your calibrations!"

"Oh, they're fine, commander, Very Fine. Don't worry." Garrus smirked at her. Saina smirked back at him and said, "If you say so cause we are going to count on them a lot in order to land safely on the ground which will be a long way down." 

There was a loud rumble and the bay doors started to open. It was time.  
"All right boys, ready?"Saina called. 

"Ready and kicking!" The two responded together, Saina looked over her shoulder and saw them exchanging surprised looks and gave them a thump up, "Great timing guys! Let's do this!"

They fired up Mako and slowly began moving towards the mouth of the now open bay doors.

*************

The Mako started to slowly make its way towards the age of the ramp leading outside and to the open air. Joker’s voice came over the cam channel. 

“Commander, we are 4000 meters above the surface of the planet the safest distance I could get us and you are around 200 meters away from the abnormal gravity pull.” “Good job Joker, we’ll take it from here.” Saina said and went on to hit the engines when Joker went on again, “Commander, you’ll be falling at a speed of 300 miles per second or more since this fu…”

This time it was not Saina alone who rose her eyebrows towards the intercom controls, as if Joker had sensed that he paused and rephrased himself, “Since this abnormal planet’s gravity has tripled, the falling speed is way faster than it was before and you reach the surface less than 20 secs.” 

“We hear you Joker.” Saina assured him. “That’s what the thrusters are for.”

“And they are improved perfectly, and when I say perfect I mean it, have faith.” Garrus said with that certainty in his voice. 

“When a Turian speaks of faith, I don’t know whether to feel good or lose the remaining ounce of faith I have!” Joker said meekly.

Saina sighed and squeezed her eyes, this was not helping. She hit the start engine buttons and signaled the other two to get started. “Thanks for all the info Joker, stay where it’s safe until we contact you.”

“Yes commander, and commander…”

“Joker! Don’t make me pull the plug on this channel!” Saina growled. “OK, OK! I just wanted to say be careful.”

“We will be this is the best ground team after all.” Saina smiled and looked over at her mates to see them smiling smugly to themselves, she continued, “And if this goes sideways, you’re in charge!” “Ahhhh, hell, commander come on, don’t do this to me!” Joker whined.

“One hell of a way to kill the mood you just created Shepard!” Garrus admonished her. “Damn straight!” Kaiden punched in.

Saina huffed, “OK, then let’s get this over with so there won’t be any more mood swings!” And she heard a quiet “You bet.” From all of them. 

Saina and her team got Mako rolling and started to move towards the edge of the ramp. “Going off shore in 3,2,1..” And Mako was off the ramp and air born as Saina finished her sentence. The entire Structure started to shake and Mako changed its orientation in a way that her nose was going down first, Saina hit the arranging controls, getting the vehicle to a horizontal position. “Shields?” Saina asked. “They’re holding, we will hit the ground in 19 secs, 18, 17..” Kaiden started to count down. They were going down fast and Saina could see the comets flying on either side of them. The controls had started to blink and beep in a warning pattern. When Kaiden reached 12 on his count down, Saina ordered, “Full thrusters!” “Aye, Aye” The two answered as they hit the buttons. The thrusters came online, Mako shook more than ever and they could see bluish lights burning from underneath Mako. 

Their falling speed decreased but they were still going down fast. “Power up the shields!” “Got it commander!” Kaiden said. “Be ready!” Saina said, gritting her teeth as she held on to the controls. Mako hit the ground hard on all her six wheels sending a massive shock wave inside and outside. Everyone grunted but that was not all, due to the impact force, Mako bounced off and went up in the air, twisting in midair. 

“Shit!” All the three yelled. “Garrus! Side thrusters!” Kaiden yelled.

“Get your side on! I’ll amplify them!” Garrus exclaimed. The thrusters on right of Mako fired up, forcing it to turn and land on its wheels again, as it did, Saina hit the brakes and turned the wheel in opposite direction to stop Mako from flipping over again, but in doing so Mako started to spin around towards a nearby rock. The controls were beeping and “warning” was heard from the consoles. 

“We know that damn it!” Kaiden growled angrily. Suddenly Garrus got the cannon controls on, Kaiden called out to him, “What are you doing?!” 

“Firing to the direction we’re going!” He said, while aiming. “DO IT”, Saina yelled. She kept the driving controls in locked down. Kaiden put more power in to Mako’s shields as Garrus worked on his aiming which was difficult given their spinning momentum. They spun one more time getting closer to the rock. “Garrus!” Saina and Kaiden shouted in alarm. “Here we go!” Garrus yelled, firing the rockets at the rock. The force of the cannon firing and their unstable condition pushed Mako back half a meter and after one more spin, they came to a screeching stop. Mako slightly leaned on her one side then stumped softly on all her wheels, whining in protest to all the pressure it went through. “Good girl!” Garrus sighed. “Nice job every one!” Saina let out her breath nodding at her comrades. “We are the best ground team after all!” Kaiden remarked punching Garrus gently on the shoulder. “Clever thinking, buddy!” He added. “Well, I always wanted to do that!” Garrus smirked.

“Whose decisions are reckless now?” Saina said in a pointy tone, referring to a time when Kaiden and Garrus had argued with her about her going head first to battles, using herself as a bait to draw enemy fire away.  
“Oh, come on, I didn’t hear you complain, when you two had all the ‘Garrus’ ‘Garrus’ going on!” Garrus moved his arms up and down while talking, making the two humans laugh. Suddenly the intercom cracked but there was statics jamming the signal. “Oh, damn! Joker!!” Saina yelped remembering that their channel had gone offline temporary. She hit several buttons and the channel’s signal was improved. “Joker! This is ground team, we landed safely.” She could almost sense the two behind her rolling their eyes. “We are heading towards the pinpointed area now.”

“Alright commander, just keep checking the channel’s signal though, it went offline for two minutes.” 

“Ahhh…” Saina turned to her comrades and saw the two shaking their heads to her. “Really? Must be comets! We’ll keep in touch, ground team out.” As she turned off the channel, she heard the guys letting out their breath and relaxing. Simultaneous actions and comments seemed to have become a habit among her crew and squad mates. It was only a month since they had embark on this journey but a tangible friendship was forming between these people and Saina was happy about it, relieved even.

They got Mako running again and headed for the marker which was blinking red on the map. Though it wasn’t an easy drive, the ground kept shaking as the meteors struck the planet mercilessly. So there were no grumpy growls from the team as the commander did her best to keep Mako steady. But it got even worse as they got as close as 30 meters to the marked area. There were countless meteors of different sizes raining down in a vast horizon in front of them and many smaller rocks zoomed past Mako in a very dangerously close proximity. There was, however, some sort of a silhouette of a contraption somewhere in middle of the area, but Mako's scanners could not produce a sensible reading from it. It stood there, seemingly unaffected by the rampage that was going on all around it. "I guess that's our target!" Saina pointed out to the barely visible silhouette. 

"Any idea how we can get there with these fire balls raining everywhere?" Garrus asked the daunting question. 

“We can’t go any further than this with Mako.” Saina observed.  
“Obviously! I thought we would get to this point. We’d better put Mako somewhere remotely safe then.” Kaiden added sounding nervous. At the same time the intercom beeped and Joker’s voice filled the cabin,

“Commander, I’m getting some crazy readings here! They don’t make any sense at all!”

“Joker! We’re going to leave Mako behind and go on foot. There are too many meteors and the ground is unstable. Maneuvering Mako is too difficult. We will try to get as close as we can to see what is at the center of the area.”

“Copy that commander, be careful.” Joker replied, trying not to sound paranoid.

“Stay out of sight, just in case, ground team out.” Saina finished and began to turn Mako around.  
“You expect trouble? More than this?” Garrus asked pointing at the site in front of them which was moving out of their view since Mako was making a turn.  
“At this point, I expect any number of crazy things to happen at the same time!” Saina said flatly.  
“I don’t blame you.” Kaiden said quietly as he checked Mako’s shields one last time.  
Garrus checked the thrusters while saying, “Good point!”

They found a relatively safe zone close to the site and got off Mako, after checking their weapons, they headed off to the ‘eye of the storm’. They couldn’t move fast enough because wind was blowing dust in the air obscuring their view as if the shaking ground wasn’t enough. Several times they heard the nasty whistle of a mini comet heading towards them and had dropped on the ground and rolled away dodging the raging space rock by inches. Saina had yelled “comet!” so many times that her throat felt soar, still they kept pushing forward cursing whatever that had caused this.


	2. The unkown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The abnormality turns out to be something Shepard's team were not ready for.

After about ten minutes which felt like ten hours, they got close enough to make out the contraption. It looked like a tower of some sort and strangely enough the rate of comets crashing close to them had decreased too. As they moved closer, they realized that there were four towers much like transmitting models, only these emitted some unknown signal.

"The Omni-tool is not picking anything up!", Kaiden said who was trying to get a reading on the towers. 

"They don't look like any transmitter we have seen..." Garrus said while closing in but suddenly he bumped into something invisible and stumbled back. 

"Wow!" The tree held up their weapons looking at every direction

"That's a shield!" Garrus said shocked. 

"But there's no energy patterns! What kind of a shield is this?" Kaiden growled frustrated. 

"Is it geth?" Saina wondered then called on to Normandy. "Tali! Are you picking this up? Can you tell what these things are?"

There was some statics, Saina cursed under her breath, worked around some controls on her omni-tool and finally Tali's voice could be hear, "Shepard, did you hear me?" "No! Say it again"

"It’s not geth and it’s unlike anything we have recorded! It's unknown, maybe not even from our cycle or... galaxy!"

"What! But that doesn't make any sense!" Saina objected but she never got a chance to hear a response. There was a deafening shriek that felt like it was coming from underground. It was so loud and horrible that felt like sharp daggers were being pierced in to their brains. They yelled in pain and covered their ears to no avail. Saina tried to look up and as she did she froze as terror gripped her. On their left, something crawled out of shadows. It was as though made of shadows, it took shape. First legs, many of them then the torso, arms with sharp talons at end then the head....instead of eyes, there was only a dark red cut from one side to the next and veins spread out ward from it. There was no nose only a set of deadly razor sharp teeth stretching horizontally on its face. Everything was black..dead...no worse than death...It was a void...an abyss that had a physical form. That was what Saina could see and feel. Her skin crawled and she felt paralyzed. The shrieking went on in her head, numbing all her senses. Her vision was blurry. She tried to reach to the others but the monster to her left vanished suddenly and it was right in front of her in a split second, it bared its teeth at her then one of its talons went up and came down slashing the air, aiming at her entire form. She know she wasn't going to make it in time....

 

The talon slashed down. For Saina everything was moving in slow motion. The sharp claw gleamed in the light caused by the burning trail of the meteors. The very reason for their very end at that moment. 

End....she realized with a sharp pang of terror and despair that Saran was still out there and everything depended on her and her crew...this just couldn't happen....her eyes widened as the claw came close for the killing blow, faintly she heard Kaiden and Garrus crying "Shepard!"......

There was a blinding flash of light and Saina was knocked off her feet but when she landed on the rocky ground, instead of excruciating pain and agony, she only felt the dull pain of her back being grazed as she had fallen. The agonizing shriek was still there but it was weaker somehow. Then she felt someone holding either side of her helmet, they were saying something but she couldn't make it out, she struggled to open her eyes. As she managed to do so, the first thing that she saw was a pair of purple eyes looking at her through the glass of their helmet with a great deal of worry. Again the hands moved and it was as though the frequency of the shrieking sound was being changed and blocked. It kept getting louder or weaker until it was all gone. The numbing feeling was gone. Saina suddenly felt like as though a heavy weight was lifted off of her, she breathed deeply and flexed her fingers, getting ready to fight. 

"Can you hear me?" The female voice called out to her and Saina realized it was the person with the purple eyes. She was leaning over Saina with a strange looking omni-tool on her arm as she checked her vitals. There was a cry of anger and Saina sprang up ignoring the alien's yelps and looked around to find her squad mates. 

She was ready to charge when she saw that Kaiden and Garrus were both seated on the ground and two other aliens were tending to them.

"Commander!" Saina jumped and looked at her side to find the purple-eyed alien still trying to check her statues. 

"We are here to help! Are you alright?"

"Yes..."

"Hey!! What the hell is taking so long? Are they up?!" The voice was strong, feminine and demanding with a great deal of frustration pouring out of it. That was when Saina saw the scene in front of her. She was chilled to the bone again as she saw that horrifying monster shrieking and clawing but it couldn't get to them because there was someone standing right in front of it with their left hand held up high in air, holding a vast shield all around them, keeping the monster out. 

That person looked over their shoulder and even though she was wearing a helmet similar to Quriens in design, Saina saw a pair of icy blue orbs with white lines beginning from the pupils to the white of the eyes.   
The person roared, "Dervial! Are they going to move or what?!"  
"Yes! They are! .." The alien next to Saina replied.   
"Then get a move on! This bastard is calling for its captain and the rest of the team needs help!" The alien in charge yelled.   
The monster delivered a heavy blow against the shield and the alien who was holding the shield, grunted while the heels of her boots sank in to the rocks beneath her.  
"Captain!" Dervial cried out and made a move to get to the other alien.  
"No! I'll handle this idiot! Just get going!" The alien captain shouted.  
She looked at Saina, "Commander! This is no fight for you! Get your men and get the hell out of here!" She yelled then she turned to the monster and with a loud howl, she started to push the shield forward, forcing the creepy creature to stumble back.

"It’s our chance! Come on!" Dervial said, pulling Saina's arm. She called out to the other two aliens, "Misma! Patel! Move to phase two!"  
"Wait a minute!!", Saina yelled and jerked her arm free from the other one’s grasp. Too much was going on and she wasn’t going to trust anyone just yet. Where were these people and why her team didn’t pick any sign of them while they were headed to this cursed region.   
The other alien, Dervial, looked at Saina as though she had done something stupid and said, “Commander! We can’t stop! We need to get a move on..”  
“Not until you tell me what’s going on and where you’re taking us!!”  
“To safety of course!!”

Saina was about to protest, not buying this when another voice interrupted her, “HEY! If you are having trust issues, this isn’t the perfect time!! If we wanted to kill you we could have let that asshole do the deed!!” One of the two aliens whom Saina had seen attending to her squad retorted angrily. 

Suddenly something rather huge exploded close to them, shaking the ground so viciously that it nearly knocked them off their feet. Loud cries and howls could be heard everywhere but the swirling sand and dust was obscuring Saina’s eye sight and she couldn’t see those who were fighting around them.  
“THAT’S IT! Our people are dying here so you idiots can get out of here! Either you’re going to move or I’m going to drag you away!!” The same alien bellowed, outraged.  
“Misma! Get a hold of yourself!” Dervial said in a loud voice. Grasping her comrade’s arm to steady her.  
“Commander! We need to get out of here fast! And they can help us!” Kaiden said, nodding at Saina to reassure her that this was a reasonable move to make.  
“There are too many beings here fighting, we can’t make a run for it without those creepy things jumping us!” Garrus added.   
“SEE! Listen to your boyfriends!” Misma spat.   
“WHAT??!!” The ground team squeaked in disbelief.   
“We are not…” Kaiden stammered while glancing at Garrus who seemed to be calculating whether he should still consider those aliens friendly.  
“They are not…” Saina began, “Ah! Forget it! Let’s go!” She motioned to her boys to move who still looked rooted.  
“Finally! That seemed to do the trick!” Misma said sarcastically.   
“Not another word!” Dervial snapped at her then shouted over to Saina and her team, "Get in a line! We will cover you!" The other alien, Patel, hissed to Misma, “You Can’t keep your mouth shut can you?”

Saina didn’t hear what Misma barked at Patel, but she made a mental note that if…no! When they get off this rock, she will have a talk to whoever was in charge of this alien team, she was utterly pissed off about the comment that alien gave about her squad. One thing she couldn’t stand was her crew being insulted in anyway. 

As she coordinated her men to run in their usual arrow point formation, Dervial came up next to her while her two comrades spread out on either side of the ground team and conjured up widening shields on their own respective flanks.  
“I’m sorry for earlier, I will make sure that this will be discussed with our captain.” Dervial said, sounding apologetic.  
“Well, you should! Or I will!” Saina returned in a too harsh a tone than she had intended.   
“Understood, but let’s get you off this planet first!” Dervial nodded curtly at Saina and moved ahead to bring up a shield of her own.   
“We need to get to our Mako! Then we can be out of your hair fast!” Saina called after her. Not sure if these aliens had any hair to speak of.  
“That’s our plan! That’s what phase two is about! To shield you until you get to your vehicle!” Dervial shouted over her shoulder.   
Saina could see why this alien was chosen to lead this three membered team, she was level headed and had her way with her comrades, the very traits she would seek out in her comrades in order to put them in charge of a team. She only hoped that she wouldn’t be proven that her assessments were wrong later on and her team and these aliens, whoever they were, would make it out alive. She didn’t care if this planet would go up in flames or collide with its star, all she cared about was to get her team back to Normandy and light jump out of that cluster.


	3. Are there any shortage of these guys?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard and her team are being accompanied by the alien team to get away from whatever that is attacking all of them non-stop.
> 
> This is an alter universe story so please don't read if you don't like big changes being done to the original story. Thanks :)

The wind was blowing so viciously that a sand storm was forming at every angle. The ground shook with non-stop quakes as the meteors blasted away the surface. Nasty shrieks were heard everywhere which was countered by battle cries of numerous unknown aliens. An intense battle was ensuing as more and more of those dark monsters emerged from seemingly nowhere. They lashed out at the suited figures with horrifying speed. The aliens were fighting back by forming teams of five warriors, battling one monster at a time. Explosions of fire and lightning lit the dark skies.

 In the midst of all this, Saina and her team were running in their battle formation while the shield bearers kept on warding off the worst of the battle away from them. A couple of times shadows leaped over their heads causing them to slow down, but Dervial shouted at them to keep pressing ahead. Never in her life had Saina seen something like this, she used to think that Akuze was the real time “living hell” but now she felt as though they were in the middle of a grand battle between darkness and light, only a very highly advanced version of it none the less and it was crazy. They had come to investigate a strange abnormally on this planet, who would have thought that it would turn into a freaking war of ages!!??

As Saina’s mind was twisting and turning, she heard Garrus shout, “What are we going to do if one of those things jump us?!”

“They won’t jump us cause if they do, you’ll be dead before you know it!!” The Alien on their left, Misma, returned, her tone so bitter that not even her breath mask could conceal it.

“Of one thing I’m sure, those who think they are so high and mighty, usually get killed first!” Garrus snapped, clearly losing his cool over Mismas’s bitterness.

“HA! You’re the one to talk! You egoistic Turian a…”

“Misma! Your shield is losing focus! If anything goes wrong, I will hold you responsible! Consider yourself warned!!” Dervial bellowed with such anger and authority that Misma dropped the argument immediately and concentrated on her shield, ignoring Garrus completely.    

“Good thing you’re in charge!” Garrus shout over at Dervial, but instead of a reply to Garrus, Dervial screamed, "STOP!"  
"Holy shit!" Kaiden exclaimed and they all skied to a halt. Right in front of them a four story tall blackish monster emerged. The reddish slit on its deformed face glowed ominously. It snarled at them. Sensing its intentions, Dervial yelled, "Girls! Brace yourselves!" As soon as those words left her, the monster vanished. The three shield holders stood their ground, pouring more power in the shield so that they could withstand the monster's unseen attack. Saina trained her rifle over Dervial's right shoulder, ready to open fire at the thing whenever it would appear, she shouted to the other two, "All eyes formation!" "Aye, aye!"  
Garrus and Kaiden quickly turned their backs to Saina's, each guarding their flank, waiting for a target to appear for them to shoot at. As they got ready to face the monster, several things happened at the same time.  


"Shit! The ground!!" Dervial screamed, turned and grabbed Saina and sprint_ jumped away from where they were with such speed that Saina had barely the time to yell, telling her squad to run. Misma and Patel spun around, pushed Garrus and Kaiden away, as they did, the monster sprang out of under the ground right where Saina and her team were a moment ago, smashing the shield that the two girls were conjuring, throwing them away like pebbles. The guys managed to catch and break their guardian angels' fall, only to be knocked off their feet. The monster was on to them. Saina broke free from Dervial's grasp and bolted off towards her team, blasting at the monster with her rifle, screaming, "Die you bastard!!!" She could see that the bullets weren't doing anything to the creature, its thick armor wasn't even scratched but she wasn't going to let her team die, not again. This was not going to be Akuze all over again.  
The monster turned towards Saina, taking notice of her. Saina ran faster, yelling trying to buy time for her team to get away, she could hear Dervial shouting behind her. But as Garrus and Kaiden began to move with Misma and Patel in tow, the creature spun around towards them, an enormous spear conjured in its talons and it went to smash the entire retreating team in to pieces.  
"NOOOOO!!!" Saina and Dervial screamed in horror as they were still far away to get to their team. The spear came down, Saina rushed in one last desperate attempt to get to her boys when a loud howl was heard and then something huge jumped high over Saina's head causing her to dive down and roll on the ground. As she rolled on her feet again, she saw an enormous figure clashing with the monster sending it flying away. It rushed towards the monster as the creature started to charge again. The two crashed with each other. The giant’s huge sword looking weapon was in a locked down with the monster's spear. The sound of clashing weapons and armor was deafening. Saina was only hoping that the black and blue armor of the giant would hold out. She rushed to her squad, got the boys' by the arms pulling them away from the battle. Dervial did the same with her girls. She literally howled them by waist, carrying them away. As they got away far enough, a loud cry made them turn around. The monster had delivered a blow to the giant’s torso, kicking it away.  
"No! Hakkou!" Misma screamed. She got away from Dervial yelling, "He can't kill that bastard on his own!" At that moment the giant, Hakkou, got up and slammed the monster in the gut with his head and shoulder pushing the nightmare away.

“How long can that machine guy hold on??” Kaiden asked, as he franticly worked around his omni_tool alongside with Garrus so they could bolster their overload strike.

“MACHINE!!!” Misma cried out and her unusual yellow eyes widened with shock.

“That’s Hakkou! He’s a giant! Not a fucking mindless machine!!” Misma yelled, but before Dervial could intervene, a loud cry of pain made them forget the argument. The monster had found a way in to Hakkou’s armor and its frightening sharp talons were gripping Hakkou by the exposed shoulder. It was obvious how much pain the giant was in since he was twisting and turning but he still kept fighting and slashing at the monster with his free arm to keep the deadly razor teeth away from his face.

“Damn it! That asshole is going to poison Hakkou’s blood soon!!” Misma cried, she looked at Dervial not with anger but with utter despair in her eyes.

“We have to help him!” She pleaded, her other comrade, Patel looked torn and kept stepping from foot to foot, clenching and unclenching her fists. Dervial looked at the two titans wrestling then at Misma and Patel. It was obvious that she was struggling with a difficult decision. Saina grabbed her by the shoulder and said, "Mako is not far, we can make it! Go help your comrade!"  
Dervial looked at Saina and a strange sparkle shone in her eyes. She turned to her teammates, "Misma! Patel! Help Hakkou! I'll teleport the commander and her team!"

"You what??!!" Saina, Kaiden and Garrus yelled at the same time.

 "No! That's too much for you Derv! You can't..." Patel was objecting, but Dervial cut her short growling, "There's no time! As your officer, I'm telling you to go! And tell Adria to meet up at the rendezvous point! Go!"  
With that, there was no room for any more objections. The two nodded and sprinted towards their giant comrade. Misma cried out and sent a raging ball of raw energy at the monster's head, making it lose its balance and lose its grip on Hakkou. The giant fell on his knees with a painful grunt.  Misma kept jumping from side to side throwing balls of fire, lighting and frost at the creature while Patel tended to Hakkou to get him back in to the fight.  
"They will be fine! Gather around me! And hold on to my arms!" Dervial ordered the startled ground team. Saina and her team complied and while they took their position, Saina asked, "What are you doing?" "Teleporting us!" Dervial responded as a vibration began to spread in her entire body. "As in sending us away?!" Kaiden asked with wide eyes. "That's just crazy!" Garrus exclaimed. "Close your eyes! Take a deep breath!" Dervial said breathlessly. Her entire body started to glow as though the armor was generating a light from inside out. "Holy crap!" Garrus gasped as the light started to channel out and engulf them also. The light grew stronger until there was a wall of light all around them. "Focus on Mako! Here we go!" Dervial shouted and suddenly there was a zapping noise, a huge pressure pressed them down and seemed as though it sucked them in itself. At the last moment, Saina saw, through the bright light, the monster striking the shield that Misma and Patel were holding, throwing them off balance and Hakkou threw himself in between to stop the creature from crushing the girls then everything went dark. They were twirling in darkness and suddenly Saina's feet hit solid ground, her knees buckled and she fell on her knees. Kaiden and Garrus appeared on either side of her and Dervial collapsed on the ground with an agonizing moan.

"Dervial!" Saina cried out and grabbed the alien by the shoulders and pulled her to her feet. She was shaking and gasping for air. Now Saina understood why Patel was against the teleporting idea. Whatever the procedure was, it had drained Dervial completely.  
She coughed and to everyone's horror, they saw blood splatter behind Dervial's goggles. "Medigel!" Saina said, getting her omni-tool to inject Dervial, but Dervial slapped her hand away, "Get on the Mako! There's no time." She said breathlessly. They looked up and saw that they were next to Mako. How Dervial knew where their vehicle was stationed, was beyond Saina.

"We're not leaving you like this!" Saina snapped. On the cue, Garrus and Kaiden began to help her to Mako, when they heard a groveling noise right next to them. Dervial gasped, slipped out of Kaiden and Garrus arms, turned and with a cry she conjured a shield around them. As soon as she did another one of those monsters struck the shield, making Dervial to be pushed back, her feet grinding on the ground while struggling to hold the shield.  
"Damn it! Is there any end to these bastards?!" Kaiden growled as he jumped next to Dervial bringing up a shield to reinforce hers. "No! Just go!" Dervial shouted. "No way in Hell!" Saina argued. Then she yelled in to her radio, "Garrus! Blast that thing!" Garrus, who had jumped in Mako the moment the monster had attacked, aimed the cannon at the raging thing and fired three rockets at the same time, the rockets hit home and this time their attack was effective. It stumbled backwards. "All right!" Shepard's team yelled in triumphant but the creature howled and got back up, the wounds closing and healing quickly. "Run! The shields won't stand against it this time!" Dervial pleaded Saina and Kaiden.  
"Need a hand?" A squeaky voice said below them. The three looked down to see another alien clad in armor and small in stature standing next to Dervial.  
"Adria!" Dervial cried out happily, the relief was palpable in her voice. “Shield!” the little alien, Adria, squeaked, and summoned a shield to overlap with Dervial’s and Kaidan’s, thickening it. The monster collided with the shield, but this time the shield holders didn’t have trouble holding it back.

“We have to double it! Leepta is coming in!” Adria shouted over the monster’s howling. “Wha…??!!” Dervial yelped. Wheeezzz! Booom! Something massive crashed the monster, sending fire and pieces of rock everywhere. If it wasn’t for the shield, they would have been fried. The monster, however, wasn’t faring well. It cried in anger and pain, rolling back, it looked up to find the attacker when a comet zoomed and blasted its back, sending it flying to a nearby rock. “The comets are attacking?!” Kaiden yelled, not believing what he was seeing. “No! It’s Leepta! She can redirect them! But not for long! You have to go!” Adria explained. Saina looked up at the smoke filled sky and saw a figure flying and spinning around in the smoke and sparks of fire. “Is that..??” She said, her mind struggling to accept what she was seeing. “Is it a flying machine or is she actually flying??!!”

 “Yes! Leepta can fly! It’s her species’ specialty! Commander, it’s all right! We are fine now! Get going!” Dervial assured Saina.

Now that help had arrived, even though it was the kind of help Saina hadn’t seen in her life, she knew that they needed to get off that rock before this group of aliens suffered more losses for protecting them. She nodded at Dervial and signaled Kaiden to pull back. As they hopped in Mako, Saina turned and saw the two teammates moving side by side, changing their stance so that the shield would change shape and angle in order to corner the monster and provide Mako with additional shields. Saina yelled over the sounds of blasts, “We will be meeting you again after you’re off this rock, OK?!”

“OK!!” The two aliens shouted back. With that Saina joined her team inside Mako. Thankfully and strangely, Mako was intact. It was thanks to the archway like hollow which was formed in the heart of a giant rock which Kaiden had scanned out and they had used it as a shelter for Mako. The team fired up the engines, rolled back and sped off away from the comet wielding strike team.

As Mako darted off in to the distance, Dervial called to Adria, “Leepta and I got this, Adi! Go with the schedule!” The monster was already down and the last comet had made a short work of it. Adria nodded, “Be careful, lieutenant!” And sprang towards the direction which Mako had taken.

 

                                                                                               *********************

 

The Mako sped off into the distance. In the cabin, there was a heavy silence as the three passengers worked on their own panels. Saina kept a firm grip on the driving controls while looking outside with a set jaw and a grim look on her face. Her mind was rolling with a maddening speed as she was putting everything together to make a sense of the incidents which happened in a matter of twenty minutes ago. The dark monsters, the aliens, and the fighting...it was a fight to the death, she had been in that kind of situation so many times that she could tell it by simply feeling the atmosphere. Now how all this had come to be, she did not know but she was sure that all of this had something to do with the Reapers, hell! Maybe these creatures were some sort of Reaper themselves. She exhaled deeply to calm herself, she needed to call Joker, she had to get her team air born without letting Normandy get anywhere near the surface of this planet, a very dangerous plan one that she knew none of her crew would like.

"Aaa...Commander!" Kaiden called to her since she hadn't said anything for the past several minutes and they were running out of time. "Shouldn't we call Joker?" He asked. "I am, but Normandy will not land!" Saina said as she reached for the communication button, Garrus who was watching her steadily said, "I know that with all the comets and those crazy ass monsters you don't want Normandy to get anywhere near here but how are we going to get off the ground without the ship landing?" 

"I have an idea...but you won't like it." Saina said grimly. "Does it include driving off a cliff?" Kaiden wondered, trying not to sound too demanding. "I told you .." Saina had begun to say when the sensor on the panel started beeping. "Something big is coming from behind fast!" Kaiden said, checking the signals. "Damn! Do these bastards ever give up?!" He growled angrily. "I think our unknown friends weren't successful in containing all of them." Garrus said darkly. Saina gritted her teeth and ordered, "Full thrusters!" and hit the speed buttons causing Mako to jump forward. But the dark figure still tailed them. "It's getting closer! Garrus! Blast it when you can!" Saina growled. "You got it!" Garrus said and aimed the cannon at the moving target but it kept jumping around. Left, right and Saina kept maneuvering side to side to keep Mako away from the creature's grasp. At the third shooting attempt, the monster was hit. It was clear from the shrieking noise. Then suddenly, there was a loud thumping noise and something landed on top of the Mako. "What the hell..." the three yelled in shock and Saina was about to turn the wheels sharply calling to Kaiden to activate the shock wave field of the Mako, when a squeaky voice yelped over their com channel, "it’s me! Adria! Whatever you do don't stop or turn!" Saina couldn't believe it. "Were you not supposed to be with Dervial?!" She said. 

"I was supposed to back you up until you get on your ship!" Adria returned. "We got this! You can't stay out there like that..." Saina was arguing when Kaiden yelled, "Incoming!" Saina looked around frantically but nothing was in front of them, then something struck the shields from above, but couldn't reach Mako. "Keep going!" Adria yelled over the channel. The monster had attacked them and Adria had repelled it somehow. "Commander! The kid is adding to Mako's shields!" Kaiden informed her, astonished. "I'M NOT A KID!!!" Adria screamed over the channel. Her scream was so sharp that made their ear set to wizz painfully, "WAAAH! OK! OK! I take that back!" Kaiden yelped and Garrus cursed under his breath. Saina ignored the commotion, the monster was not far behind and they were getting close to the cliff she had chosen as the "Jumping point" it was now or never. She growled, "Listen! We are going to jump off a cliff and Normandy is going to catch us in midair!" "WHAT???!!" Garrus and Kaiden yelled in protest but Saina continued, "We are close, Adria! Do you think you can hold on that long?"

"Yeah!" Came the conformation. "And I hope we get there soon cause there are more of them heading this way! And I can hold of only two at the same time!" Adria put in. "Roger that!" Saina said. "Shepard! Is this really a good idea?" Garrus asked, trying not to sound too skeptical or horrified. 

"Our landing wasn't an easy one, so our take-off won't be smooth either!" Saina said flatly. "I told you she would say that!" Kaiden told  Garrus in a low voice.  

"Joker! Can you read me?" Saina called over the channel. "Barely commander!" Joker answered, there were statics crippling the com channel. "What is going on down there??"

"There's no time Joker! I need you to get to the marker on the map that I have uploaded to you! We will reach it in ten minutes, and we are going to jump off the cliff and head towards the cargo bay door!"

"WHAT!!! COMMANDER! This isn't a throw and catch game!!" Joker yelled. "That's an order, Mr.! You are not landing!" Saina snapped.

"BUT..." 

"Joker! I wouldn't have considered this in a million years if you weren't our pilot! You're the only one who can pull this off!" Saina said in a calm, reassuring tone. The tone that always won every argument.

 "When you put it that way...FINE! BE catching you commander!" Joker said and signed off. 

"OK! We are almost to the jump point!" Saina said, adjusting Mako towards the nose of the cliff which was fast approaching.

“And it's the highest cliff on this planet! That's.... convenient!" Kaiden said with a nervous chuckle.

 "Man! Nothing is ever simple with you Shepard, ha?" Garrus shook his head.

"Nope! With commander, nothing is ever dull!" Kaiden returned.

"How about more shooting less joking?" Saina snapped at them. She was right, one of the monsters was catching on to them.

"I thought you wouldn't realize that!" Adria squeaked, "Shoot it! I'll ward off the missiles!"

"Is there anything that these guys can't do?!" Garrus growled.

"YEAH! They can't fly!" Adria said rather cheerfully.

At that moment Normandy came to view. Joker was lowering her in an angle that its belly with the cargo bay doors would be in alignment with the tip of the cliff.

"Here we go!" Saina yelled, "Adria! Brace yourself!"

Saina hit the full speed buttons once more, Kaiden hit the thrusters and Garrus aimed the cannon at the monster which was wounded to a point. As the Mako drove off the cliff and flew in to midair, Garrus yelled," This is a parting gift from Normandy! Asshole!!" And blasted the entire area which was in the range of the cannon. That gave Mako extra jolt to sail further in the air but it started to tilt downward and away from the open cargo bay doors. "WOOHAAA!!" Everyone yelled.

"Come on girl! Get them!" Joker's voice was heard over the com and he drove Normandy to lean on her left and go in to a spin while flying towards Mako. "JOKER!!" Kaiden and Garrus both shouted in horror. "It’s going to work!" Saina thought, holding the controls in lock down. She only hoped that Adria was fine. And finally, with the spinning maneuver, Joker got the Mako to sail right through the cargo doors.

"Brake thruster!" Saina yelled. The thrusters came alive when Mako's tires hit the floor and forced Mako to slow down and turn to a side. Still Mako spun around itself until it hit the shields which were sprung up as soon as the cargo door had opened. Mako stopped with a whining noise.

"The Commander has landed! And we are out of here!" Joker's voiced yelled over the coms as he pulled Normandy away fast. 

Saina and her team hadn't recovered from the extreme maneuver they had just been through, when a squeaky voice shouted, "NO! WAIT!"

The small alien jumped off Mako's roof and darted towards the now closing cargo bay doors.

 "Hey! Stop!" Ashley called out and ran after Adria.

 "Stop right there kiddo!" Wrex’s grumpy voice rang out and jumped in Adria's way, but she dropped on her left hip, feet first and slid right through Wrex's legs then she sprang up on her feet again and sprinted for the doors, however, they were already closed when she reached them.

"NO! OPEN UP! I NEED TO GET BACK!" She pounded on the doors. She was stopped by two strong arms which pulled her back and turned her around. It was Saina.

"Calm down!" She said and held Adria's shoulders as she kneed down to be on the same level with little alien.

"First, you need to pinpoint where your team is so we can drop you off there." Saina said, trying to calm Adria down, but Joker's voice interrupted her, "Negative commander! We are out of the orbit of that planet and I'm getting us out of the system too! There's no way we can go back there again!" 

"But my team needs me!" Adria shouted, her frame going rigid with anxiety.

 "I was supposed to get you to your ship not to board it!" She told Saina with wide green eyes.

"Alright!" Saina said squeezing the little one's shoulders in a hope to comfort her somehow. She looked so much like a child to Saina but she knew that wasn't the case.

"Can you contact your commander?" Saina asked.

 "If you need to boost the signal we can help you!" Kaiden offered.

All of Saina's squad mates had gathered around them, watching Adria curiously.

"You are one quick mouse..ki.." Wrex started to say when Kaiden and Garrus slapped him on the back simultaneously, cutting him off.

 "What the..?" Wrex objected.

"If you value your hearing, don't say that word! Trust us!" Garrus whispered, eyeing Adria.

Adria sighed then nodded. She tapped her strange looking Omni tool on her left forearm. It lit up with a greenish hue. She punched in some codes and then talked in a loud voice, "Captain! Can you read me?" There was some screeching noise and then, "Yes! Adria! You've made it! Well done girl!" The strong feminine voice boomed over the voice-com, the same voice which had yelled at Saina, telling her to leave the planet quickly.

"Captain! I'm on board Normandy! Where are you? Tell me! I'll get.." Adria was saying when the captain cut her off, "That's not your concern right now! Stay where you are!"

"Negative captain! I'm coming back!" Adria argued loudly. 

"HEY! Did you hear what I said?! We are NOT going back!" Joker growled angrily over the voice-com. "Easy Joker!" Saina said looking up at the camera in the ceiling, trying to get Joker to calm down. The guy was exasperated and she didn't blame him, but if those people needed their help, she wasn't going to refuse.

"Listen to me!" Adria's captain said firmly. There was a deafening loud crash in the background coupled with screaming and clashing noises. They heard the captain shout words in an unfamiliar language. Adria sniffed and pulled at her hood-like looking part of her helmet. Her anxiety was palpable to them all. Saina put a comforting arm around those petite shoulders. Finally, the captain was speaking clearly again,"Adria! You have been shielding more than your capacity! This is as far as you will go!"

"But..!" Adria began.

"No Buts! Commander Shepard?! Are you there?" The voice inquired. Saina was caught off guard when the stranger addressed her as if she knew Saina for a long time. The others were exchanging surprised looks too. 

"Yes! I'm here!" She said to the voice-com. "If it's possible, please keep Adria with you. She is at her limit and I can't risk her life." 

"I understand! She can stay with us until it's safe again, we stay in the cluster so you can pick her up!" Saina replied.

"No Commander! It will take us two days current system time to deal with this problem! The Cluster is not safe either! Go to widow cluster! We will join you there!"

 Adria whined helplessly as her captain issued her request. Tali who was hanging back came forth and patted the little alien's back, "I'm sure your team will be safe!" She told Adria soothingly.

Tali missed her fortila and her people which made her sympathize with Adria.

Saina glanced at them feeling sorry for the little alien and said," Copy that! We will go to widow cluster and wait there. Stay in touch!" 

"We will! Adria! We will pick you up soon! Don't worry!" The captain said firmly with a trace of cheer in her voice, despite the sounds of explosion on the background.

"OK! Please be careful.." Adria said weakly.

 "We always are! Norgathen out!" With that the communication was over.

Silence fell over the group gathered in the cargo bay, but it didn't last long when Joker's voice cracked over the voice-com, "Finally some sensible plan! No offense commander! So! We are going for Citadel?"

Saina sighed and shook her head," Yes Joker, set course for widow cluster."

"Aye, Aye!"

Saina looked at Adria, "Norgathen? Did I hear that right?"

"It sounded like a very alien name." Ashley observed.

Adria nodded, "Yes, Norgathen is her last name, Ireth Norgathen is our captain's name." 

She pulled her hood back while pressing a tiny button at the base of her armor's collar. The breath mask and goggles slid back away from her face, clicking into their hidden compartments in her armor. She pushed her hood off her head and to her back then looked up. Everyone gasped. Adria had dark peachy color skin with white glowing tattoo-like lines starting from her forehead and swirling down her face pass her big luminous dark green eyes. She had mouse-like nose and two mouse-like ears poked out of her fluffy orange hair which stood like a fuzzy cushion on her head. It was only then when they realized a thin tail was swinging from side to side behind her. She looked them in the eye and said, "And my name is Adria Kokinde! Our names sound unusual to you because you never heard our dialect before, cause we are not of your galaxy!!"  

                                                             

                                                                     

 


	4. Trying and Failing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team is safely abroad Normandy with the strange Alien as their so called guest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to thank the dear kudos givers for their kindness and please give me feed back :) I welcome any constrictive feedback ^.^  
> Again I wanted to remind that this story spins A LOT away from the original story. It is an alternate universe or AU story so please don't feel offended, there's no need to read this story if you don't like major AU fanfics :) Thank you:)

“Not of our galaxy?!” Almost everyone in the cargo bay said it at once. Adria sighed and nodded. For someone who was a bouncing ball of energy a moment a go, it was strange how drained she looked at that moment and Saina realized why Norgathen insisted that Adria stayed on the Normandy.

“So are you saying that you’re from another galaxy?” Liara asked, her scholarly mind having difficulty digesting that big piece of information.

“That’s what the kid said a moment ago!” Wrex growled, bored.

“I’m not a KID!” Adria hissed, narrowing her eyes at Wrex.

“ALRIGHT!” Saina said, putting her hands up, gesturing everyone to stop pressing Adria for more information. It was clear that the little alien was growing more and more tired as the time passed.

“Adria, you need to rest so do we all, let’s get you checked up and fed then we will talk.” Saina instructed and everyone nodded.

Five minutes later, Adria was in the med bay and Dr. Chakwas was running some checks on the small alien. Adria’s strange Omni-tool, which she called ‘Kaheren’, gave a very detailed data about Adria’s physiology so Dr. Chakwas was able to set the med devices to the exact settings which could aid Adria without fail.

“Well, looks like our new guest can eat anything that we have here!” Emen the cook mused, while he checked the data the Doctor had sent his way.

“Really?! That’s convenient!” Saina said, intrigued.

“Yeah! The Doc said that our little guest has taken some sort of medication so that none of the food here would be lethal to her! I sure like to have some!” Emen laughed to himself.

“That is curious…”

“Well! If you want expert details commander, you know who to talk to! Cause I’m just a cook and all I need to know is whether my food would kill someone or not!” Emen let out another laughter while he spun the vegetables in the frying pan.

“Do you have everything you need?” Saina asked peeking around the cooking station.

“Yes commander! But if you’re looking for the muffins, I’m afraid our sweet tooth Krogan has ate them all!”    

“Wrex!” Saina sighed, shaking her head, she really was looking for those muffins.

“I’ll just have some coffee.” She said while grabbing her mug and filling it with hot coffee.

“I’ll make muffins soon!”

“I just wanted coffee. Don’t worry about it. Just make sure the food is ready that girl looked famished!”

Saina nodded at the cook and headed towards the med bay. As she was about to reach the med bay, she ran in to Ash and Kaiden.

“I’m just saying that we can’t trust some people who claim they are not from HERE so easily! It could be a trap!” Ash said quietly.

“I hear you, but these guys nearly got themselves killed in order to help us get off that planet.” Kaiden returned in a low voice.

They spotted Saina approaching them and both straightened up and nodded towards her.

“Commander!”

“At ease! Is Doctor done?” Saina asked, gesturing at the med bay with her head.

“She said it’s going to take another minute.” Kaiden informed her.

“Commander…” Ashly began.

“I know you’re worried and I don’t blame you, but after what we saw down there and what those people did for us, the chances that they are deceiving us is slim, but we will stay alert.”

Ashly let her breath out and nodded in acceptance. At that moment the door to the med bay slid open and Doctor Chakwas came out.

“Well, our guest is fine to say the least, but she is completely drained from all that shield manifesting. I’m surprised her brain didn’t get fried!”

“It’s cause we are different!” Adria whined while appearing from behind the doctor, yawning. She robbed her eyes with both fists then ruffled through her tangled hair. Obviously trying to stay awake and relaxed as much as possible. A quite ‘aww’ escaped Ashly as she watched the little alien. Adria’s head snapped up, looking at the chief curiously. Saina and Kaiden gave Ashly sideways glances, smirking.

Ashly blinked then cleared her throat and mumbled something about needing to check a certain rifle in the cargo and swiftly left for the elevator.

“So! You want something to eat?” Saina nodded towards Adria.

“YES! PLEASE!!”

It was quite the scene when Adria sat down to eat. It seemed as though she had been starving for some time. She dug in to every dish that was in front of her, biting and chewing with terrifying speed.

While others stared at Adria eating like a zombie, with hanging jaws, Saina sipped from her mug calmly and checked Normandy’s course with Joker via her holo tablet. Finally, Adria let out a long satisfied exhale and leaned back in her seat, stretching her arms.

“Are you full now?” Saina asked.

“Yep! That was so good!” Adria smiled widely.

“Good! I thought we had to make a stop to restock!” Saina mused.

Adria laughed a high pitched laughter so loud that everyone whined in irritation.

“By the spirits! Do you always laugh like this?!” Garrus growled, plugging his ears channels.

“Oh! Yeah! My species, Motarise, have high pitched tones, it’s a defensive mechanism!”

“And an effective one without a doubt!” Liara laughed softly as she approached the dining table.

 “heheyhy!”

“So, we’ve been doing our best not to ask questions while you were..ah..eating…but can you tell us what were those monsters? And who are you people exactly?” Kaiden asked and everyone turned their attention to the little alien.

The smile on Adria’s face vanished. She looked down at her empty plate and her mousey ears drooped down. Saina looked at the depressed tiny figure then glanced over at Kaiden. He met her eyes and shrugged one shoulder; he had the same indecisive look on his face as Saina did. While both of them were wondering whether to take the question back, the familiar squeaky voice said, “They are not monsters! Not like those that you read in your fairy tale books!”

She looked up and glanced at everyone in the dinning section. Her eyes looked so sad and troubled.

“They are not like those mindless creatures that attack everything that they see. They are deadly intelligent and we can only survive and drive them back by fighting with many different tactics!”

“But what do they want? What were they doing on that planet?” Saina asked.

“They were planning to cause a super nova by driving the planet in to its star and bring down the whole system.”

“But why? What would they gain?” Liara asked, looking mortified.

“The…end of everything..” Adria said quietly, averting her eyes from all of them.

“WHAT??!!” Garrus and Tali both said in a loud voice.

“That doesn’t make any sense! Are you saying that they ARE THE REAPERS?! They are real? The Reapers are for real?? Cause if that’s the case then with Saren and the Geth going rampant, we are…” Garrus was continuing, when Adria interrupted him, “NO! Reapers are minions to this crazy bunch! They …”

“Oh! That’s just great! So Reapers are real and to top it off, they work for these monsters TOO??!!” Garrus said in disbelief.

“Um…”

“This is getting crappier by the second! And you make it sound as though there is no damn easy way to kill them! I love smashing skulls but I don’t want to go down knowing I couldn’t make those sorry losers cry for their mamas!” Wrex said gruffly.

“No! That’s not it!” Adria said helplessly.

“What is it then?” Ashly demanded. She had left the cargo bay when she learnt that everyone was gathering in the dinning section. And at that moment, everyone was staring at Adria with grave expressions.

 Saina saw how Adria flinched when everyone started to jump at conclusion after each word she uttered. She was mortified and stressed out. The poor thing was glancing at everyone then back at Saina, while gripping the edge of the table as though she needed help to sit still. Saina could clearly see that Adria did not intend things to go this way. She needed time to explain. Or someone else was needed to do the explaining.

“ALRIGHT! That’s enough! Everyone! Adria can’t explain anything while we are all so jumpy! Calm down so we can clear matters soon!” Saina said in a loud, firm, commanding voice. She rose from her seat and gestured everyone to settle down with a set jaw. Her crew got the cue and nodded in respect then backed away from the central table.

“Thank you!” Saina said, nodding her appreciation to the crew, and then she returned her attention to Adria who was blowing out a breath which she was holding for who knew how long.

“Adria! How do you want to go about this?”

“To be honest..I make a mess of things when I want to explain anything! And this is not anything!...Iree…captain Norgathen..can explain everything, because she is at the center of it all too!”

Adria turned on her omni-tool or Kaheren and checked data states on it. Her ears drooped again, “It’s been a day already on that stupid planet!”

“She said that it’s going to take two days, didn’t she?” Saina pointed out. Adria looked at her with a sad look on her face and nodded.

“So we are going to wait for captain Norgathen to arrive and clear things up?” Ashly asked, folding her arms on her chest and looking at Adria skeptically.

“Well as you can see our guest can’t explain two words without having a heart attack in the process!” Saina smirked. Ashly sighed and others in the room either followed suit or shrugged.

“Joker! How far are we from widow cluster?” Saina asked.

“Six hours, commander! By the time we get there, our benevolent allies’ stay on Eldor will reach its two days’ time frame. In case anyone was wondering.” Jocker replied nonchalantly.

“Thanks Joker!” Saina said, shaking her head. “Just six more hours to go.” She looked at the small ball of anxiety.

Adria smiled, “Thank you commander! I…” She blinked and rubbed her eyes again while a shaky breath left her lungs. She trembled slightly.

“Are you feeling alright?” Saina asked feeling alarmed.

“hmm..yea..I just..” Adria was about to say when suddenly her eyes rolled to the back of her head, her eyelids shut closed and her body swung forth, her upper body and head slumping on the table with a thud. Everyone gasped in horror.

“Dr!” Saina shouted as she grabbed Adria’s shoulders and pulled her back so that she would be lying back in her seat. Dr. Chakwas was there in a heartbeat. She started to check Adria’s vitals franticly while Saina leaned in to listen for a sound of breathing.

“Good Lord! I told you she is drained! Why did you push her so much?” Chakwas admonished them.

“I know, I’m sorry, I should have..” Saina stopped when she heard Adria’s soft snores.

“Has she fallen asleep?!” She asked not sure if she was hearing correctly.

“hmmm…Yes! Her vitals look normal. It seems our little alien tends to fall asleep without any ‘normal’ signs of sleepiness!” Dr. Chakwas pointed as she withdrew her omni-tool. She looked at Saina and both of them blew their breaths out.

There was a sigh of relief echoing in the room also.

Garrus shook his head, Wrex simply grunted.

“Jesus! Is anything normal about this kid?!” Kaiden huffed.

“Would you stop calling her that? Unless you want us to lose our hearing?!” Garrus glared at Kaiden.

“She is asleep!”

“How do you know she is not going to know this somehow later?!”

“You’re overreacting! And I thought Jocker is the paranoid one!”

“HEY!” Jocker growled over the speakers.

“SO! It seems we need to tug our friend in.” Liara said in a loud voice obviously trying to stop the guys from continuing this any further, Since Saina looked like she was about to lash out at them. Liara widened her eyes at the two and jerked her head towards Saina’s direction. That gave Garrus and Kaiden enough warning that they cleared their throats and went to take care of anything that didn’t need making direct eye contact with commander.  

Ashly chimed in, “How about crew quarters? Though I think the beds aren’t available.”

“I’m not going to use my room for a while, she can sleep there.” Saina said with pursed lips and gathered Adria in her arms in one swift motion. In fact, she had thought about it from a while ago and realized that it was better to let the little Motarise stay in her room. Saina had sensed how uncomfortable Adria was around others since obviously everyone seemed so different from those that she lived with. So she decided to give their guest a private corner where she could rest and adjust until her team came after her. Besides, if there was any slight chance that Adria and her team turned out something other than what they claimed, Saina wanted the alien to be somewhere confined.

After Adria was safely tugged in and Dr. Chakwas checked her one last time, Saina went back to the common room which was relatively empty and dropped down in a chair with a sigh. She stretched her legs and closed her eyes.

She was exhausted both mind and body. Whenever she thought that she had seen it all, life just turned around and showed her how wrong she was. Her head was beginning to throb, a souvenir from her teenage life which got worse with the hell that was unleashed on her and her late squad on Akuze. She didn’t want to go back..to that place of dark memories, but her mind was too tired and she had no will left to force herself to not think of them. So the gates opened and the past game rushing in and took her with its onward flow.


End file.
